Retribution Paladin is one of the most popular and powerful classes in World of Warcraft. They are incredibly versatile and can easily be played in a number of different ways. In this guide, we will be taking a look at the Retribution Paladin in the PvP Arena. We will be discussing what makes them so strong and how you can use them to dominate your opponents.
LOW BRACKET GEAR
This gear I currently have is balanced but it leans more on DPS rather than survivability.
Helm: Furious Gladiator’s Scaled Helm
Neck: Emerald Choker
Shoulders: Furious Gladiator’s Scaled Shoulders
Cloak: Frostguard Drape
Chest: Furious Gladiator’s Scaled Chestpiece
Bracers: Savage Saronite Bracers
Weapon: Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand
Glorenzelg is the second BiS after Shadowmourne, obtainable in ICC 25 HC.
Libram: Libram of Saints Departed
This libram is absolutely useless. You can get even some with lower item level and upgrade other slots.
Gloves: Furious Gladiator’s Scaled Gauntlets
Belt: Savage Saronite Waistguard
Legs: Furious Gladiator’s Scaled Legguards
Boots: Savage Saronite Walkers
Ring 1: Scarlet Signet
Ring 2: Relentless Gladiator’s Band of Victory
Trinket 1: Medallion of the Horde
Trinket 2: Blood of the Old God
I chose this trinket(blood) mostly because of the hit rating. Without this 108 hit rating, I wouldn’t be able to hit a thing. The BIS trinket for this stage would be Darkmoon Card: Greatness.
So like I said, hit rating is really important. I tried to play under 4% and I missed a lot of spells. So the hit rating cap is a minimum of 5% but I’m fine at 5.43% because of Night Elf racials(-2%).
My recommendation is about 800 resilience.
Priority stats are:
Strength - as much as you can get
Critical strike - also very important (not under 27% for this stage of gear)
Attack power - good to have
TALENT BUILD
I saw someone is using this Vindication talent but I don’t find it too useful.
Don’t build this Toughness talent, it’s not worth it. 30% lower slow time is nothing because you can Cleanse most of your slows or use Hand of Freedom. Also, you get some 1,300 armor. It’s like 4% reduced damage to AD. Build talent next to this one instead. You get a stable 6% damage reduction to all damage sources as long as no one dispels Righteous Fury.
For maximum damage, go for the Seals of the Pure talent. Another option is Improved Hammer of Justice (20 second lower CD on stun).
GLYPHS
Glyph of Salvation
I find this glyph to be a must have so you can have 1 more defensive spell.
Glyph of Judgement
Glyph of Seal of Righteousness
These two come in a combo. Max DPS.
Other options:
Glyph of Exorcism
Glyph of Hammer of Justice
You go for the Glyph of Seal of Righteousness when you have Seals of the Pure talent.
WHICH SEAL TO USE?
Main seals:
Seal of Righteousness - Main seal for “normal” PVP activities, deals the most damage to a single target.
Seal of Command - Seal for multi targets, spread damage.
Seal of Light - Seal for defensive stance, heals you on hit.
Seal of Corruption - Use it against rogues to prevent them from entering stealth. They will need to use Cloak of Shadows.
WHICH AURA TO USE?
Devotion Aura - Use it against warriors, hunters, palas… Don’t use this against classes which are armor pen capped, it’s useless. In low brackets, no one is capped so it’s fine.
Retribution Aura - Use it against classes that deal fast damage but small amounts like rogues, hunters, warriors.
Concentration Aura - Use it only in arenas if your range needs it or there are a lot of healers in your raid group in battlegrounds.
Shadow Resistance Aura - Use it against shadow priests, affliction warlocks, and unholy DKs.
Frost Resistance Aura - Use it against frost mages and frost DKs.
Fire Resistance Aura - Use it against fire mages, destruction warlocks and elemental shamans.
Crusader Aura - Use it when you’re chasing someone, increases mount speed.
IMPORTANT SPELLS
Cleanse - Cleanses one poison, disease and magic effect.
Purify - Be careful with Vampiric Touch (deals great damage when dispelled) and warlock’s Unstable Affliction (deals huge damage + silences). Use Purify instead of Cleanse to dispel Devouring Plague.
Turn Evil - Fears undead enemies, can also be used against death knights in Lichborne.
Hand of Freedom - Makes you immune to movement impairing effects(removes stun with Divine Purpose talent).
Against paladins, use HoF to remove stun and trinket to remove Repentance because you can’t remove Repentance with HoF.
Against rogues, never use HoF on their first stun(Cheap Shot), use it on their second stun(Kidney Shot). Save your trinket for Blind.
Judgement of Light - Basic attacks heal for 2% of base health, using it in 80% of situations.
Judgement of Wisdom - Basic attacks restore 2% of base mana. Use it when you are mana-starved.
Judgement of Justice - Use it to limit enemy movement speed to normal. Slows mounted players to normal walking speed. You can also use it against Sprint and Nitro Boosts.
If you are running low on health, use a defensive combo. Seal of Light - Divine Protection - Sacred Shield - Flash of Light using The Art of War proc
Second way when your Divine Protection is on CD. Use Hand of Salvation if you took the glyph for 20% damage reduction. Seal of Light - Hand of Salvation - Sacred Shield - Flash of Light using The Art of War proc
GAMEPLAY
Keep dispelling diseases as much as you can against DKs. Pop your Avenging Wrath so you can do some massive damage.
Always start with casters; you can burst them down in a small amount of time. Then Arcane Torrent or stun, then Hammer of Wrath on top of that.
Also keep your Sacred Shield up always and spam Cleanse whenever you can(except VP & UA). Use your Cleanse to remove Chains of Ice, roots, freezes and save your Hand of Freedom for pet stun.
Or just rush HoF to end battle fast like I did in this fight.
Against hunters, keep yourself as close as you can. Use Devotion Aura in lower brackets and Retribution Aura if they’re armor pen capped. Hand of Freedom cannot break their Freezing Trap so don’t waste your CD on that. Use it for slowing traps and Concussive Shot.
If you get close to him somehow, better use your stun because he will make space again in no time, and there comes Repentance with a wider range. I was lucky to hit my stun at the right time so it was good.
I had to use HoF against the rogue’s stun so beating the hunter without that spell is really hard and annoying. Keep Sacred Shield up as much as you can and use procs for Flash of Light.
Cleanse Chains of Ice, Cleanse diseases. You can use Repentance against the DK and cast Turn Evil on his pet, but I was sure this guy wasn't interrupting me.
When he uses Icebound Fortitude, don’t use stun. It’s useless and also, don’t try and waste any damage spells. Try to get into defensive mode too.
When you are in a 2v1 situation, try to CC one enemy with Repentance or HoJ.
Don’t forget about Hand of Salvation for the 20% less damage taken.
Don’t use stun when DK uses Anti-Magic Shell. Switch to Seal of Corruption when you see a rogue. You can’t do much about healers with a lot of resilience, the least you can do is to CC them.
Use Hand of Salvation before you rush into the crowd. Use Holy Wrath against DK’s Army of the Dead.
